Heading to Saigon

We've decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City, mainly because we think we'll get better language instruction there. We, or maybe just I, are a little concerned about living in such a big, polluted city. But, we've decided that if we don't like living there, or don't feel well because of the pollution there, we'll move on. Two of the universities offer Vietnamese language instruction to foreigners -- we're leaning toward Ho Chi Minh City University because it seems that they offer more hours of instruction per day, but we'll probably check out the University of Social Sciences and Humanities program as well. We're not quite sure where we're going to stay. We have a couple of contacts in the city who are looking for a place for us, but we may just find a cheap guesthouse to stay in until we find something more permanent.

Nothing new is going on here in Vinh Long. We had another family party -- went to a restaurant then on to karaoke, which seems to be the standard party for the family here in Vinh Long. It's fun. The food was great -- this time, I ate my first snails. I guess it was actually my first and second snails, because we had two different kinds -- one from the river and the other from the ocean. Still no dog, though. I asked one of Hoa's cousins if "thit cay" was dog after seeing a sign on a restaurant; she confirmed that it was and offered to cook some for us the next day. I just laughed, but Hoa made it clear to her cousin later that she didn't want dog.

The food is outstanding, and it agrees with me better than the food I usually eat back home.

I just posted a few photos on Flickr -- only a few because I've reached my limit of free uploads. I don't have a credit card with me right now, so I wasn't able to pay to post the rest.

Tom